A scottish textiles company has had record sales of more than £1million from its Nature Fleece range.

The lambswool felt was patented by Lochaven International and is a unique way of making wool soft and durable enough to be commercially viable.

The Kilmarnock company is also gearing up to meet the demand for costume items it has produced exclusively for the Harry Potter films.

Owner Keith Murray, a business recovery consultant and former finance director with Clyde Blowers, bought the business from a liquidation firm for just £22,000 in 2007, saving 20 jobs in the process.

After securing the lease on the premises and renegotiating a purchase deal for the machinery, he and two others raised £100,000 to invest in retraining the staff in all of the production processes and launching new Nature Fleece designs.

The company has also won a number of international sales from Nature Fleece, with stores in Japan, the United States, Russia and Germany now stocking items based on the product.

Murray said:"I was first introduced to Lochaven International when I was brought in as a consultant to help the previous owner stave off a compulsory liquidation order.

"I had gone on holiday not long after that, but I couldn't stop thinking about the company and the potential it had if run properly.

"By the time I returned from holiday the company had already been liquidated, but I managed to secure the sale on the last day.

"I first of all went through the company's old order books, and found there were enquiries for big orders from Japan and Germany, which were three years old and had never been followed up. I set about investing heavily in staff training first of all, and then chased down all of these old enquiries.

"That was a difficult process, but the reaction we have had from buyers in the last year has been incredible."

Murray is currently in talks with global outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia to provide them with bulk orders of Nature Fleece, which if successful will lead to significant expansion for the company.

Patagonia has tried unsuccessfully for 10 years to produce a wool-based felt similar to Nature Fleece for its outdoor range.

Murray added: "The real gem of the business is the Nature Fleece, which is made through a process of loosely knitting lambswool, which is then naturally treated to create a soft, durable felt.

"Because wool is a difficult material to make both soft enough and durable enough to be commercially viable, we really have a unique product which has an almost endless range of uses.We now have dedicated agents promoting Nature Fleece in the United States and Germany, and the big US outdoor specialist Orvis is keen to develop a product range using the material."

Lochaven International began trading after the First World War as a disability charity manufacturer, but lost its charitable status in the 1990s. Under its previous ownership, its focus moved away from product development to high-volume, lowmargin contract work, and the company found it difficult to compete in the global markets.

Unknown to Murray when he bought the company, Lochaven had a long running contract to produce the school uniforms worn by the cast of the Harry Potter films, which he is now keen to exploit by selling the products online.

He said: "I was amazed the previous owner hadn't made more of the links with the Harry Potter films.

"For each film we produce around 400 garments for the cast, and there's nothing to stop us manufacturing on a much larger scale.

"The latest Harry Potter film is due for release in July, and we expect to see a surge in enquiries from all over the world this year as a result.

"We recently made a Hogwarts School jumper for an American client in a 54 inch chest, so there appears to be no age limit to the Harry Potter fan base."